Keyboard for pianos or organs



. (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1- W S MOSES KEYBOARD FOR PIANOS 0R ORGANS.

Patented July 9, 1895.

4 Sheets-Shet' 2.

Patented July 9, 1895.

W. S. MOSES.

KEYBOARD FOR PIANOS 0R ORGAN'S.

(No Model.)

IJTYSS'S A (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet .3.

' W. S. MOSES. KEYBOARD PoR HANDS 0R oRGANs.

Patented July 9, 1895.

l w@ S #mmf (No Model.) 4 sheets-sheet 4.

W. S. MOSES.

KEYBOARD FOR PIANOS 0R ORGANS.

No. 542,272. Patented July 9, 1895.

dlorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM S. MOSES, OF TRACY, MINNESOTA.

KEYBOARD FOR PIANOS OR ORGANS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,272, dated July 9,1895.

Application tiled March 28, 1395. Serial No. 543,584. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. MosEs, a citizen of theUnited States ofAmerica, residing at`Tracy, in the county of Lyon and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSubstituting and Transposing Keyboards for Pianos or Organs; and I dohereby declare the following to be a i'ull, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, whichform a part of this specitication.

The object of my invention is to provide a substituting and transposingkeyboard for musical instruments in whichany major or minor scale may berelatively substituted for any other major or minor scale, and by meansof the improvement the entire keyboard of a musical instrument can bereadily reduced by practice to two scales and thereby the reading ofmusic to two keys.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts,as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figurel is a vertical sectional view showing my invention applied to a musicalinstrument having a keyboard of ordinary construction. Fig. 2 is a planview. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on theline 4 4 of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a front view of the tension device formoving the transposer. Fig. G is a rearview of the tension device. Fig.7 is a detail perspective view of the crank-rod which connects thetension device and transposer, and Fig. 8 is a plan view ot thelocking-plate of the transposer.

The case and framework of the musical instrument are ot ordinaryconstruction, and above the regular keys A, or levers therefor, issecured a rod B, upon which the rear end of the board O of thetransposer is hung, the board being provided with a recess b in its rearedge, which'ts snugly over the rod and is closed by a strip b". Theboard O has an upwardly-projecting portion O with a bead c, againstwhich the supplemental keys D of the transposer bear, the bead formingthe pivotal point of said keys. The upper part of the board is cut awayor recessed longitudinally, as shown, providing an upwardlyn projectingledge c', to which the couplerboards are hinged, and on the under sideof the board O is formed a depending portion c2, which supports theconnections for operating the coupler-boards.

E designates a railor transverse bar, which is rigidly supported by theframe of the instrument in position below the front end ot theboard O,and this rail has attached thereto brackets E', which support one end ofpins e, upon which are pivoted levers E2, the other end of the pinsbeing let into the rail E. The outer ends of the levers E2 are providedwith friction-rollers e', which bear against the under side of the boardO when the levers are operated to raise the same, the rail E beingprovided with upwardly projecting pins e2,

which enter perforations e3 in plates c3 on the under side of the boardO, to hold said board against movement when lowered.

The supplemental keys D of the transposer are connected to the board Cby pins f and are guided at their front ends by pins f', an'd the boardO has attached thereto a strip O2, which projects into the recess insaid board and has secured to its outer end an upwardlyprojecting pinf3, which extends between the supplemental keys and moves in front of ascale-plate g, carried by the rigid part Gr of the frame ot' theinstrument. The part G has a suitable number of holes h, in which isadapted to be placed a stop-pin II, with which engages an arm orscale-bar I-I, projecting from the board O. The scale-plate g and theperforations e3 in the plate on the board O, in which the pins e2 tit,as well as the holes h in the part G, correspond to secure the properpositioning of the substituter and transposer.

Through the strip O2, which is secured to the board C, pass pins I,which also pass through openings in the lower part of the board O, so asto rest upon the regular keys or levers A of the instrument, the upperends bearing against the under side of the supplemental keys D, andthese pins are provided with collars e', which are rigidly attachedthereto, helical springs 1l being interposed between the collars andboard O to hold the supplemental keys normally elevated, being ICDassisted by thecounterbalance of the regular keys. The wires of -thecoupler-'boards yare adapted to engage with the upper face of thecollars, the other end of said wires engaging with blocks f4, carried bythreaded pins depending from the supplemental keys. These wires arepivoted to the coupler-boards and extend one octave, so that when oneend is 'engaged by one of the blocks f4 the other end 'will enffa e thecollar of a ke one octave above if in the treble or below if in thebass. The coupler-boards in this case are normally lowered, so that thewires will-be out ofv engagement With the blocks f 4 and collar t', andveach coupler-board is provided with depending portions k, against whichone of the members of bell-crank levers K abut to raise thecoupler-boards into an operative position, said bell-crank levers beingpivoted to the depending portion C2 ot' the board C, and each pair areconnected to a pivoted lever'or arm K', so as to move in unison, a stop7c being provided to limit the movement in one direction. The lever orarm K is pivoted at its upper end to the portion C2, and is provided atits lower end with a sliding extension K2, adapted to be pushed in whenit is not desired to use the cou pler-boards. The lever or arm K isnormally held to one side-by a spring k2, carried by a bar depending.from' the portion C2, and said depending baris provided With anadjusting-screw k3 for limiting the movement of the lever. From theconstruction hereinbefore described it will be noted that when it isdesired to bringveither one of the coupler-boards into an operativeposition it is only necessary to move'the corresponding lever or arm Kto one side, which is done by the performers knee, such movement beingtransmitted. to the bell-crank levers, which raise the coupler-boardsand cause the-wires thereof to engage the adjustable blocks of thesupplemental keys D and the collars on the pins I. When pressure isremoved from the levers or arms, the couplerboards will bev restored totheir normal po tion by the springs k2. n

When it is desired to shift the substituter and transposer, the firstaction is to depress a central pedal M, which lowers the outer end of alever M and draws upon connections m, attached to the levers E2, causingthe outer ends of said levers to elevate the forward end of thesubstituter and transposer out of engagement with the pins projectingfrom the rail E and the pins I from engagement with the keys or -leversA. Thus we have the transposer at an inclination, in which position itmay be moved either to the right or left, as desired, and said movementis accomplished automatically by means of a spring N, the shaft N ofwhich is supported by. a suitable block, the shaft having rigidlyattached thereto a ratchet-wheel, and onthe rear end of the shaft is aspring-actuated disk n', which carries a pawl in engagement with theratchetwheel. To the disk is connected a rod n2, the

'upper en d 0f which is coupled to a bent arm N3, as shown in Fig. 7,which is suitably pivoted to the frame ofthe instrument, the up- 7o perend of said arm being connected by a rod n3 to a lug n4, which dependsfrom the board C of the transposer. It will thus be seen that whenvthetransposer is free to move the spring will actuate thetransposerboard,1n ov- 7 5 ing it to the right or left, according tothe po. sition Vofthe disk. The shifting or moving of the transposer is limited by thestop-pin H, which is placed in the proper aperture or hole in the :partG of the frame of the instrument, 8o

and .afterthe substituteror transposer has been shifted by the meanshereinbefore described it is ready to be operated or played upon.4

The invention hereinbefore described can 85 be readily applied to mnsical instruments already manufactured.

Having thus described my invention, I do not wish vto be limited tothe-precise construction and arrangement of the parts as shown 9o anddescribed; but such construction may be modified in accordance with thespirit of my claims.

Having thus described myinvention, what Iclaim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters 9 5 Patent, is-

1. In a transposer for musical instruments, the combination, of atransposer board. supy ported so that its forward end may be raisedvertically and the transposer then moved lonro gitudinally, of leversfor elevating the front 4end of the transposer, and a spring-actuatedframe connected to the transposer to shift the same longitudinally whenraised, and means yfor holding the transposer against movement rc whenlowered, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a transposer for musical instrumen ts, the combination, of atransposer board C supported at its rear end so that it may be tiltedvto disengage it from its other supports and its 1 locking means, meansfor automatically movingthe transposer longitudinally when elevated,`and pinscarried by the transposer board, said pins being adapted toengage the keys of the transposer and of the instrument, 1

and springs which abut against the transposer` board and collars on thepins to exert an upward pressure on the pins and hold them out ofengagement with the regular keys when the front end of the transposerboard is elet vated.

3. In a transposer forv musical instruments, the combination, of atransposer board supported so as to be tilted and then movedlongitudinally, ofspring-actuating means for r moving the transposerboard in either direction when elevated.

4. In a transposer for musical instruments, the combination, of atransposer board having pins carried thereby and of suiiicient length rol a rigid portion of the frame said rigid portion having a series ofholes for the reception of a stop-pin, and means for automaticallyreciprocating the transposer board when raised, substantially as shown.

5. In a transposer for musical instrument-s, the combination, of a rigidframe having a series of apertures, a corresponding scaleplate carriedby said rigid frame, of a movable transposer having attached thereto ascale-bar and an indicator-pin, the scale-bar being in line with theholes in the rigid frame and the indicator-pin in line with thescaleplate, a removable stop-pin adapted to engage the holes in therigidframe, and pins carried by a rail or bar adjacent to the front of thetransposer, said pins being adapted to engage with apertures in thetransposer, for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination, with a transposer mouutedat its rear end upon a rodso that it can be moved longitudinally and the front portion raised andlowered, of a fixed support beneath the front part of the transposer andpins projecting therefrom to engage apertures in the transposer, andlevers pivoted to the fixed support and provided with means for movingthem in unison, the ends of the levers which engage the transposer beingprovided with rollers, substantially as shown and for the purpose setforth.

7. The combination, with a transposer constructed substantially as shownand provided with coupler-boards each having a series of wires bent asshown to engage with the keys of the transposer and with pins interposedbetween the supplemental and regular keys or levers, of means forraising the forward ends of the coupler-boards, said means consisting ofbell-crank levers connected to each other and to depending levers orarms, said levers being actuated below the keyboard of the instrument,substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

8. In a transposer for musical instruments constructed substantially asshown, the combination with a pair of coupler-boards hinged to thetransposer board, said coupler-boards having depending portions, ofbell-crank levers pivoted to the transposer board and connected so as tomove in unison, one end of the bell-crank levers engaging with dependingportions formed on or attached to the couplerboards, and operatinglevers each having a sliding extension, a spring for holding thecoupler-boards normally out of an operative position and set-screws forlimiting the movement of the operating levers in one direction,substantially as shown and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VILLIAM S. MOSES.

Vitnesses:

CHAS. W. MAIN, KITTIE A. JONES.

